HARD WORK AND MORE PROGRESS ON DAY TWO IN SEPANG

Andrea Iannone in the Top 10, setting a lap time under the 2-minute mark on Sepang’s second day of testing, as he tries different chassis and set-up configurations.
Alex Rins very consistent on pace while testing two different specs of engine, very close to dipping below the 2-minute mark.

The second day of testing at Sepang International Circuit was a positive one for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR, with opportunities to try many new things on the bikes and for the riders to improve their feeling and confidence with the 2018 GSX-RR. All three riders found themselves improving their lap times and decreasing their deficit to the front as they completed a combined total of 159 laps.

Andrea Iannone, who focused mainly on chassis configuration, was able to drop his time under two minutes which allowed him to take 10th place in the session - just over half a second off the fastest time. This was a nice boost for the Italian, who had struggled on Day 1 following a couple of crashes.

Alex Rins was not far behind his experienced team-mate, ending the session in 13th place - just six tenths of a second from the fastest time. He reported that he was feeling very positive about the adjustments made over the course of the day as he concentrated mainly on engine specification.

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR test rider Sylvain Guintoli completed fewer laps but was also able to find some important settings for tomorrow’s final test day.

Although the session stayed dry the riders had to instead battle against intense heat and humidity, making it difficult to stay on track for long periods of time. But thanks to their hard work during the winter break they found they were able to push through and complete another productive and useful day.

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“Today has been another day where we worked a lot, but we are in a situation at the moment where we really need to understand everything and get good information. We really worked hard and we made a lot of adjustments with both riders, who were working in different areas of the bike. Alex concentrated more on the engine side with two slightly different specs., so he was trying to understand the positives and negatives of each one. In the morning he could keep a consistent and positive pace, then further improved in the afternoon. And for Andrea it was much more based around the chassis area, we worked a lot with different configurations and we could find a positive one that allowed him to set a good lap time, his best so far. We will continue tomorrow and into the next test to try to be as clear as possible about our final package.”

Andrea Iannone
“As I said in the last days we are on a growing path, working with a step by step approach, and we’re working day after day to understand and see any limits that we encounter. Today has been another day on this path, we have understood many things and found both positives and negatives which makes the day very useful. We have focused on trying different set-ups to understand how the GSX-RR reacts to our changes and we got a lot of information. The weather and the crashes have affected the working schedule and we are a little behind with our ‘to do list’, therefore we must stay focused tomorrow to understand as much as possible the true potential of the various options and different configurations that we have here, in order to address the future work until the Qatar debut.”

Alex Rins
“I’m feeling really good and today was a really positive test in which we tried many things. We tried to adjust the bike with a new engine and in that way we found really positive things. Tomorrow we have more to try; such as suspension, and some parts of the chassis, so we will focus on that. I tried to work really hard during the pre-season so that I could arrive here with good feelings physically, because it can be difficult after two months off the bike, and I am feeling really good.”